This new re-reproduction lets Gene Taback’s primo audience cassette master turn up its bright lights all the way. Taback’s perfect mic placement -- Go Sony! -- makes for clean crisp separation, tight definition for Phil’s lively bass -- the field of band ensemble sharply focused in detail -- all now transparently present.

The (three) Rowan Brothers opened this Wednesday show, unbilled, with about 20 minutes of acapella harmony bluegrass.

The ACOUSTIC DEAD and Friends followed shortly. Pigpen's scattershot honkytonk piano from an acoustic upright, played standing up, figures prominently on Truckin, also on Monkey & the Engineer, Candyman, Ripple, Brokedown Palace and New Speedway Boogie. David Nelson plays mandolin on many tunes and sings harmony on several. Marmaduke adds harmony vocals and/or guitar on a few. There’s maybe a second mandolin and/or fiddle (pizzicato and bowed) on Cocaine Blues and Rosalie McFall, possibly a second mandolin elsewhere too? Jerry goes full electric for New Speedway Boogie. The concluding gospel tunes feature harmony vocals from Nelson and Marmaduke.
On Wake Up Little Susie Is Jerry playing an electric guitar turned down, maybe a hollow-body?

(For another sample of Pigpen's piano check out the 1966 studio version of Taste Bud.)

The NRPS SET opened with Six Days on the Road, then all their first album tunes plus Superman and others -- Down in the Boondocks, Truck Driving Man, Willie and the Hand Jive? The album material was new, they put it straight across, from the heart. Jerry's pedal steel was spellbinding mindbending. Whatcha Gonna Do and Garden of Eden were standouts. Everything was standouts. Jerry’s solo on Last Lonely Eagle went deep deep. They jammed out Dirty Business into its menacing ominous grunge space at great length. Between tunes Jerry’s pedal steel said "Oh wow." They closed with The Weight and Honkytonk Woman. It must have run an hour and more.

This was my second or perhaps third Dead show. We were a dozen feet from the stage on what was then Jerry’s side. It wasn’t so crowded -- friendly, laid-back, room to dance, excellent sight-lines & sound. Thank you BG & Crew. Listening to Jerry switch from acoustic guitar to pedal steel to electric was a four-hour lifetime altering utterly fixating display of incomparable genius.

It's a great shame we don't (yet? ever?) have tape of this NRPS set because it was totally an integral part of the evening. I have not heard it equaled (or close) among the dozen and more tapes available of Jerry-era NRPS live (May 1970 - October 1971); later performances tend less expansive, less relaxed, are tour-tight.

The improvement in listening for the ELECTRIC SET is less drastic but still remarkable. The Lovelight is complete at 30:27. Bobby's guitar is in fine form and audible clean in the mix. Phil dazzles all night and you can hear him great. This sharpened definition is a major gain for hearing the band in peak mode in detail.

Pigpen’s harmonica duos with Jerry in the Easy Wind jam (not always on mic, -- now he’s audible). The band kicks in hard around 5:30 -- the fuse is lit.

David Crosby adds electric guitar, turned way down low, at intervals throughout the electric set from Easy Wind forward. This transformingly re-curated recording makes him audible. He turns it up for Not Fade Away and Lovelight. Kudos and muchas garcias, Jones and Minches.

Twelve stars a set.

I'm a huge fan of these acoustic sets. It's such a gold mine to be able to listen to these absolutely free streaming into my cell phone when I'm outside walking. I couldn't possibly have dreamed of this kind of access back in 1980s when I first started listening to them. We had to work to just get a copy. Each one of these acoustic shows are gems to me. This one in particular is really lovely. Beautiful versions of ripple and Candyman and Dark hollow and what a treat to hear how long blues and Rosalie Mcfall. I love the little gospel part at the end with David Nelson on mandolin. The second electric set is just smoking fire It's hot hot. Surprisingly, the worst part is David Crosby. He's very faint in the background thankfully but he's just sounding awful on the guitar and awful on the vocals which is hard to imagine for somebody of his caliber. I listened to this set slowly and it took a couple of days to get through it and it was well worth every moment of it. I really am enjoying the ripples and the way that it goes into broke down palace is perfect. There's a pretty good discussion on this issue in the good old Grateful Dead podcast episode on brokedown palace which I highly highly recommend... Too bad about Crosby could have been amazing... Anybody else agree with this? I am a huge Crosby fan in general except when he does something stupid which is not uncommon haha

Oh I completely forgot to mention the piano playing. People are saying it's pigpen I certainly would like to think so It does sound a little tentative at times. But it's hard to say because Garcia was playing solo concerts with other piano players so it doesn't sound like Ned to me because it's just not proficient enough sounding but could be that he just didn't know the tunes that well or could have been Merle. Frequently tell my friends and family that I don't like speculation and that's what I'm doing right now so I'm going to stop but I just want to mention the piano playing is great and it would be wonderful if it was pig doing it.

well obviously if you were at this show this was over the top but if we go just on the recording probably somewhere in the 4 range.
Still the acoustic songs are pretty captivating especially How Long and Cocaine Blues...
Electric when in full jam mode like the Good Lovin' really cooks.
This is not the first thing I would want to turn someone on to the Dead's music but as a Head it gives me a deeper appreciation of how this band was so much tighter than other bands from the time period. And by the 70's they were the bees knees indeed.
Weir kills me with the original Minglewood ;)

A favorite aud of mine on the archive, great acoustic and electric sets. (NOTE: This is the best version of this date on offer.) This here is a QUALITY aud-- nice, clean, and lively.

I really like how the group, as good as it is, is kind of ragged from night to night from '66-'71. It feels like rock n' roll. After that they really tighten up, for the most part-- which is fine too!

Cold Rain and Snow is dynamite, the whole sequence from China Cat thru Good Lovin' is a peak, and NFA --> Lovelight is ECSTATIC.

I don't think so, but it's adequate to portray the band in 1970, which was a little sloppy that night, perhaps because they were home turfed. Yet though they were slopping it up in places (too numerous to give examples) they would come out of it with a dazzling bit of exceptional playing.

This reviewer was an attendee and I recall it was a very fine concert -- maybe the best of the run. Don't know who was playing the mandolin -- whether it was David Grisman or David Nelson -- think it was both. Pigpen is on piano through half of the acoustic set and also played some acoustic guitar. Perhaps Ned Lagin sat in on piano, or perhaps it was Nelson again. David Nelson is a very accomplished multi-instrumentalist (besides playing electric guitar and singing in the NRPS).

The Lovelights is a barn burner.

Walking out into the latenight coolness of a San Francisco Wednesday evening was a real eyeopener due to it being so dang hot in that joint. Graham had packed the place way beyond legal capacity.

We drove back to Hayward. Happy Campers? You betcha.

It's true that the recording is great for the time period, and the acoustic set is excellent, but I almost wish it was harder to hear the electric set. Something sounds out of tune, off-key or off pitch there.

the acoustic stuff here is incredible, the vocals are perfect and amazing, the song selection is awesome great tunes, nice hearing the american beauty stuff, i love wake up little susie and sweet chariot

the electric stuff is equally as good, great song selection all well played extremely well played, and how bout that intro

the good lovin is crazy so good

I love these 1970 acoustic sets. Fine vocals and Workingman's Dead/American beauty song selection. Aside from other highlights noted below, the electric set includes an outstanding version of Good Lovin', with some fairly intricate lead work, a lot of syncopation in the rhythm, and Pigpen in excellent form.

Recording has some rough edges, but it comes with the territory. Do yourself a favor and download the FLACs.

this is a fantastic track as the previous add man indicated. to me, it is jerry's tip o' the hand to mississippi john hurt (see "coffee blues"). it has that same sorta avalon feel of m.j.h.'s light-hearted, yet deep, blues.

tell it to me (aka cocaine blues) sounded great last night as i heard ketch secor sing it with the toughcats. nice to see the song is still alive. for a brief, if slightly amateur, musicology thread of this soulful tune, check out the wiki:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine_Blues

peace, y'all.

p.s. i DIG this recording.

How Long Blues is just...... I haven't the words!!! This recording isn't that bad either.It kinda gives it that vintage tone that this show deserves!! I love it the whole thing from start to finish,and that's unusual for me.Ask my wife! She hates it that I skip through tracks the way I do.It may be my ADD,and this may be the cure.A temporary one anyway! Thanx billions to the taper who captured this piece of history,and to every other taper and the archive for all this wonderful music.Most of all to the Grateful Dead!! Where would we be without them?????? % stars for the show and we won't worry about the sound on this one!!! Just listen to it and I believe you'll feel the same!!

The vocal harmonizing - especially on candyman , and then later on other songs - is absolutely impecable . And thanks to the taper who caughtthis live in 1970 , we can hear this majestic piece of history of the GD

Thanks for sharing this beautiful recording . Id love to hear this , say ......... cleaned up by the GD engineers ( Lemieux etc ] . I rank this show up there with the other greats of the GD ( ithica 77 etc etc ]

Thanx CD, Gene, & David. I have heard worse recordings. I always appreciate the foresight of the early tapers. The acoustic set is very nice. Love Pig on the piano, esp. the Truckin'. Lovelight is a barnburner, Pig raps with just handclapping, a beautiful moment. I am opening my radio show this week with Stephen>Sugar Mags and NFA>Lovelight. Peace